Sarah Kessler

Sarah Kessler is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Southern California, with additional affiliations in Comparative Literature at University of California, Irvine and Humanities and Sciences at Art Center College of Design. Her research spans 20th and 21st Century Transatlantic Media and Culture, with specialized focus on Sound Studies, Queer Theory, and Voice Technologies.

Education includes a PhD in Comparative Literature (2016) and MA in English (Modern Studies) from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2008), and a BA in Art-Semiotics from Brown University (2003). Her publications examine intersections of political discourse and media representation, including analyses of reality TV's 'process' rhetoric, Star Trek's environmental messaging, and ventriloquism as metaphor for presidential communication.

Key article trends reveal interdisciplinary focus across:

• 2024: Television & New Media on political reassurance narratives
• 2023: Music in Star Trek on cetacean vocalization
• 2021: Media Ventriloquism book chapter on voice technology
• 2019: Film Quarterly on Russian Doll's trauma loops

Her work also addresses queer cultural production through comedy specials and music analysis.